Catheters such as guide catheters can be subject to a number of often conflicting performance requirements such as flexibility, strength, minimized exterior diameter, maximized interior diameter, and the like. In particular, often times there is a balance between a need for flexibility and a need for strength or column support. If a catheter is sufficiently flexible to reach and pass through tortuous vasculature, the catheter may lack sufficient column strength to remain in position while, for example, subsequent treatment devices are advanced through the catheter.
Flexibility versus column strength can be a particular issue in intracranial access, which can require a catheter to pass through the aortic arch prior to making an essentially linear advancement to reach the brain, with again another perhaps tortuous path to a desired treatment site within a patient's head. Intracranial guide catheters have been configured to provide intracranial access to relatively soft elements, such as microcatheters and guide wires.
However, accommodating intracranial delivery of therapeutic elements such as stent delivery catheters and other balloon catheters presents a new set of challenges as these devices can be significantly stiffer and, therefore, can exert significantly greater radial forces on a guide catheter. As a result, guide catheters can be subject to backing out of particular vasculature such as the aortic arch and, thus, require repositioning.
Therefore, a need remains for catheters that are configured for delivering devices such as stent delivery catheters or other balloon catheters to intracranial locations. A need remains for a guide catheter that can provide sufficient column support while retaining a desired level of flexibility.